During a small offset frontal impact of a vehicle, the impact is offset from major structural components of the vehicle. Offset frontal impacts can be simulated with a small offset rigid barrier (SORB) frontal crash test. For example, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) sets a standard for a SORB frontal crash test. In a SORB frontal crash test, the vehicle impacts a rigid barrier at 40 miles/hour with 25% of an outer portion of the front of the vehicle overlapping the rigid barrier.
Since the crash contact surface during a small offset frontal impact is offset from major structural components, such as front rails and subframe longitudinal members, these major structural components do not absorb energy effectively during the impact. Instead, the load path of the offset impact travels through a bumper beam to a backup structure behind a wheel of the vehicle. The impact load is directed along this load path and the energy of the impact is absorbed along this load path. The backup structure includes, for example, the floor and dash of the vehicle.
During the small offset frontal impact, the bumper beam moves rearward. The wheel of the vehicle bridges the load path between the bumper beam and the backup structure as the bumper beam moves rearward into the wheel and forces the wheel to move into the backup structure. Since the wheel bridges the load path, the orientation of the wheel affects the load path and the energy absorption during the frontal impact. When the wheel is oriented with a front portion of the wheel being positioned outboard relative to a rear portion of the wheel, the wheel is trapped between the bumper beam and the backup structure and may disadvantageously cause the wheel to intrude into the floor or dash of the vehicle. Intrusion of the wheel into the floor or dash of the vehicle is a metric recorded in the IIHS SORB frontal crash test.
Alternatively, when the wheel is oriented with the front portion of the wheel being positioned inboard relative to the rear portion of the wheel, the wheel can detach from the vehicle, thus minimizing the magnitude of load transferred to the backup structure and minimizing the possibility of intrusion of the wheel into the floor or dash. For example, orientation of the wheel with the front portion of the wheel inboard results in better structural ratings and overall ratings in the IIHS SORB frontal crash test. As such, there remains an opportunity to design a system that orients the wheel with a front portion of the wheel inboard to minimize the magnitude of load transferred to the backup structure and minimize the possibility of intrusion of the wheel into the floor or dash.